Month: October, 2013

This last month or so has been possibly the busiest period in the history of Make-That-A-Take Records. We’ve hosted four absolutely banging shows over the last six weeks and have been working tirelessly in the background getting things ready for Book Yer Ane Fest VII and the releases that we’ve got coming out before the end of the year. The shows with Arliss Nancy, Mini-Fest with The Smith Street Band, Great Cynics, The Murderburgers and more as well as the last two shows with Elway and Direct Hit have been some of the most fun shows that I’ve ever been part of, so thank you so much to everyone involved, especially those who have come out and supported the shows and all the bands for being awesome. It’s nice to be reminded that punk rock can still reinvigorate and refresh! The Priceduifkes may also be the nicest dudes in punk rock.

I’ve gotten a little behind with regards to catching up with sorting all the videos I’ve taken at shows recently, but there are over 300 videos from across the years available for your viewing pleasure on Cowpunk TV.

Next up show-wise, we are very excited about the return of Franz Nicolay and the Bearing Torches tour with The Cut Ups on Tuesday 19th November at Kage Nightclub, Dundee. This tour is unique insofar as both Franz and The Cut Ups shall be performing two sets each night; one with The Cut Ups as Franz’s electric backing band and one with Franz performing keys with The Cut Ups, as he did on last year’s “Building Bridges. Starting Here” LP. This will be Franz’s first show in Dundee since absolutely tearing Cerberus apart last August and will also be the first time that Exeter’s finest have visited Dundee since way back at Book Yer Ane Fest IV.

The really rather wonderful Broken Stories shall be opening the show with half an hour of their super-melodic uplifting fiddle-driven acoustic folk-punk that has grown from strength to strength over the course of the last six months. They are truly one of the most interesting and exciting acoustic acts that I’ve seen recently. Kev has always been a great songwriter but he seems to be coming into his own and gaining in confidence with each performance. This promises to be a unique and rewarding night all round. Advanced “Will Call” tickets are available here and come with a free instant download of the Broken Stories EP.

On the subject of Billy Liar and The Murderburgers, both are currently on tour around the USA promoting their new releases and making their way towards Florida to play Fest 12 in Gainesville. Da Boigas have just dropped the “These Are Only Problems” LP on Asian Man Records and will be playing at Loosey’s on Sunday night at 10.10pm. Billy Liar is also supporting his new “All I’ve Got” digital single that he’s released through MTAT, with the physical version to follow in time for BYAF. Billy is play The Lunchbox in Gainesville on Saturday at 7.20pm, just after our buddy Jeff Rowe. The wonderful Mark McCabe is also playing Fest, as are our pals in Bangers, Great Cynics, Leagues Apart and countless more. Hope everyone who is at Fest has an awesome time!

Our next vinyl release is the “ROASTER” 4-Way Split 10″ on REIGN IN BLOOD coloured wax featuring UNIFORMS, Sink Alaska, Question The Mark and The Walking Targets. Now, I should probably provide some context for this release; the songs from both Uniforms and QTM come from the split 7″ that was supposed to come out earlier this year. However, for reasons beyond our control, that record didn’t happen. As such, we thought it prudent to do what we could to get these songs out there and they are finally seeing the light of day as part of this split with two of Scotland’s most exciting new punk bands in the shape of Sink Alaska and The Walking Targets, both of whom are contributing brand new recordings. The record itself will be released and available at Book Yer Ane Fest VII with a stream and pre-order going live in the next couple of weeks. All four bands will be performing across the BYAF weekend too.

The tracklisting is as such;

A1; UNIFORMS – “Keep On Keeping On”

A2; Sink Alaska – “Hitless Wonder”

A3; Question The Mark – “Whatgoesaroundcomesaround”

A4; The Walking Targets – “Count Me Out”

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B1; The Walking Targets – “Self-Deprecating Evenings”

B2; Question The Mark – “Ignorance Is Piss”

B3; Sink Alaska – “Footnotes”

B4; UNIFORMS – “Father’s Day”

The record was mastered by Ross Middlemiss of Engineered Audio Recordings who has recorded such luminaries as Kaddish, Bonehouse, The Shithawks and heaps more. The release is a split project between the bands, MTAT and Team Beard Records and will come with download codes. Pre-orders will come with immediate downloads of the tracks in your preferred format and the physical records will follow at the end of November/start of December. These songs mean a lot to me personally so I’m very pleased that they’ll finally be available on record. We’ve also started doing some demos for our LP so keep your eyes peeled for any songs that may pop up from that.

We are also very pleased to be involved in an international collaborative project between a bunch of European punk rock labels and seven of Sweden’s finest skate/punk/hardcore bands to release SWEDEN THE DEAL, a compilation featuring some of the best bands from the thriving scene. Officially set for a December 10th release, we will have some advanced physical copies at BYAF VII. The release features two brand new songs from Rebuke and From The Tracks, both of whom play BYAF alongside Sweet Empire and Antillectual from The Netherlands, meaning that the busy Euro-punk scene is well represented.

Big thanks to all the bands and all the labels involved for having us be part of such an exciting international project. The CD will be available from distros across the continent, so make sure and keep your eyes peeled.

On the subject of distros, if anyone is interested in stocking any of the upcoming MTAT releases, please get in touch. Thanks also to Ryan and the dudes at Get Better Records from Greenville, South Carolina for their trades recently. We’ve got a bunch of new stuff in the distro from the likes of The Anchor, Rubrics, Warm Needles and a bunch more. We have also just taken delivery of some copies of the Cleavers / The Kimberly Steaks split 7″ that is out through Fuzzkill Records. It’s an absolute banger and I’d strongly suggest picking one up. You can get your paws on it here and can check out the rest of the distro and merch stuff here. We’ve just got re-stocks of both black and white BURST COW shirts as well as some banging new MTAT HXC koozies printed by our pals At His And Her Prints.

Right, I think that’s about as much as my brain can handle at the moment. Thanks to everyone for their kind words yesterday for my birthday and to everyone involved in helping me celebrate at the weekend. It’s not so bad getting older, it just hurts a little more when you trip out of a van.

BOOK YER ANE FEST VII is now only 6 weeks away, so now is as good a time as any to announce the *preliminary* day splits. It would appear as though, once again, things have grown arms and legs (like usual) but we are very hopeful that everything will run smoothly. As with all events, and to borrow some more pro wrestling parlance, the CARD IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

As always, also, there have been some changes since the line-up was first announced. We’ll have a new “official” poster in the next few days. If you haven’t done so yet, you can get your Earlybird Weekend Tickets for £20 with a free download of BYAF VII; The Comp (Part One) here.